“It’ll be okay,” he whispered.
So young to be so solemn. She blinked back tears and forced steel into her spine. “I know, bud. Come on, let’s get this done. You and me, just like it’s been for the past year.”
“And Gabriel and Quinn.”
Her smile faltered for just a second. “Yeah. Them, too.”
With one last hug, she took Leo’s hand and forced air into her lungs before she walked through the door into a homey, cottage-style kitchen.
Just in time to see a beautiful, dark-haired woman run one, slim-fingered hand down Gabriel’s cheek while the blasted man smiled at her. Something sharp and mean cut across her chest, some emotion that made Shea want to run her nails across the woman’s perfect cheekbones.
The voices immediately rose up in opposition. They wanted her to get closer, to embrace the woman. They missed her. Shea felt their longing as an almost physical ache.
Shit.
Her entire body stiffened, muscles quivering, ready to run. Away or straight into Gabriel’s arms? Hell, she couldn’t do either.
Finally, the woman, who couldn’t have been more than thirty, turned to her with a sad smile that looked remarkably like Gabriel’s.
“Shea. Leo.” She stepped toward them, her arms lifting just a bit before falling back to her side as Gabriel moved around her to stand next to Shea. “I’m so pleased to meet you. And so very sorry about your parents. Your mother was my best friend. I miss her everyday.”
God, the woman’s voice. Her accent was just the same as her mom’s. The one that came from English being her third language.
“Yeah, well, she never talked about you other than to say you were one of the priestesses.”
Damn. She wanted to take the words back the second they left her mouth. She was being petty but her default setting lately was smart ass.
Banding her arms around Leo’s shoulders, she pulled him back against her, drawing strength from his warm body. She flicked a glance at Gabriel, now leaning against the wall at her side, arms folded across his chest. Watching her.
He’d been ready to kiss this woman.
And that matters why?
Serena’s expression didn’t change. “No, dear, and I understand why. She and your father disappeared soon after you were conceived, as far as I can calculate. If I’d known what was going to happen…”
Despair hit Shea low in the stomach, as if she’d been sucker-punched. A reaction to the same emotion in Serena’s voice.
“Not your fault.” And it wasn’t, not any of it. “I’m sorry, it’s been…”
Shit, how did she finish that? Shea stared straight into the other woman’s odd, shattered eyes—that exactly mirrored her own. The exact same eyes as her mother.
Serena just shook her head. “Shea, please. You have no need for apologies.”
Serena turned to Leo then, and her smile returned. “Welcome, Leo. I must say you look very much like your father. He was such a handsome man.”
“Was” being the operative word, Shea thought with a painful lurch of her heart.
Serena’s smile faded as she met Shea’s gaze again. “I know we have a lot to talk about, but maybe you’d like to have something to eat or take a shower? Maybe Leo would like a nap?”
Leo shook his head, but didn’t speak.
Serena nodded. “That’s fine, too. I understand Gabriel has started your training and that you’re doing very well.” Serena looked to the door then looked at Gabriel. “Is…Quinn still in the garage?”
“He needed to stretch his legs,” Gabriel said.
Serena nodded slowly and sighed, a hint of a shake in it. “Good. That’s good. Then why don’t you show Shea and Leo their rooms and, when you return, we’ll figure out what happens next. I’ll be in the kitchen. I’m sure you’re all hungry…and Quinn will need to eat.”
Serena moved toward Gabriel with a loose-limbed and utterly confident gait. Her old-fashioned peasant dress swirled around her bare legs and she wore no shoes. She appeared utterly comfortable in her skin.
Guess that’s to be expected after five-hundred years.
Raising both hands to his cheeks in a gentle caress, Serena then slid her fingers into the softness of his hair, letting the strands slip across her skin.
Shea’s fingers curled into her palms at the intimacy of the action. Serena smiled, and Shea knew why. Gabriel’s hair felt like silk. She knew the pleasure to be had from running her fingers through it. She would never admit it to Gabriel, but she loved his hair.
And another woman had her hands in it.
Her fingers itched to scratch Serena’s eyes out, which really would’ve been a stupid-ass move. But, Goddess, she wanted to. And when Serena stood on tiptoes to press a kiss to each cheek, Shea felt her nails break through the skin on her palms and forced herself to unclench her fists.
Shit, this was so not good.
When the other woman walked out of the room, Gabriel turned back to Shea.
His hair a little mussed from the other woman’s fingers, he looked sexy and kissable. And she wanted to smack the man.
What was his relationship with Serena? And why the hell had he kissed her back at the safe house if he had a relationship with Serena? Bastard.
His eyes caught hers, and she tried to unclench her jaw, to force the tension from her body. To hide her jealous reaction. Which just pissed her off more.
Of course, she didn’t fool him, not if the hint of a smirk on his lips was any indication.
“Come on,” he said. “I’ll show you your room. I figure you’ll want to stay with Leo.”
He led them through the house but Shea had too much on her mind to notice her surroundings. Leo had a death grip on her hand, and she wasn’t about to let him go.
Halfway down a hall full of doors, Gabriel opened one, stepped in and took a quick look then waved them through.
Shea registered four walls, two beds, a large armoire and an attached bath. No pictures, no TV, no personality.
Leo headed straight for the attached bathroom, closing the door behind him, leaving Shea standing in the middle of the room.
Gabriel walked up behind her and put his arms around her shoulders, pulling her back against his hard chest.
She stiffened even as she soaked in the warmth of his large body. Damn, she really shouldn’t like the sense of being enclosed by him as much as she did. Everything was so complicated right now and adding her feelings for Gabriel to the mix just made everything seem like a powder keg doused in gasoline.
Still…was it so wrong to want to be safe?
“Take a deep breath.”
His words slid past her ear on a warm breath, stoking the fire in her blood. She’d been so cold only a moment ago and now her skin burned where he held her against him. But it wasn’t only her skin that burned. It was a place deep inside that burned as well.
“And drop the attitude,” he murmured in her ear.
His hands shifted around her shoulders as she turned to meet his gaze. “Is she your lover?”
The full-blown smile she’d longed for days to see on his face made her stomach flip.
“She’s my mother.”
Chapter Fourteen
Gabriel’s grin spread as Shea’s jaw unhinged.
“Your mother?”
“Yeah.”
“But…but she’s…” She broke off and looked down, her mouth beginning to tremble at the corners. “Oh, hell. I’m completely lost here, Gabriel. I don’t know what to think anymore. There’s just too much…too much I don’t understand, too… How old are you?”
He took the non sequitor in stride, his hands firm on her shoulders in case she fainted. She had that look. “Twenty-eight.”
“If you’re her son, then you have two sisters who were cursed at the same time as your mom, according to the history.”
He nodded. “Maddie and Furia. You’ll like them. They’re a lot like you. Stubborn, strong. Mouthy. I love them both, but Furia’s got issu
es.”
Something else I’ll make Dario pay for.
Shea nodded and, for a second, he thought she might lean into him. He wanted her to lean on him, wanted her to need him and damn the consequences.
The door to the bathroom opened and Leo walked out. Shea pulled away, making his hands drop, and turned to smile at the kid. “Think you can eat something, bud?”
Leo looked from Shea to him, his gaze considering. Gabriel stood a little taller and looked the boy right in the eyes.
“Are you gonna take Shea away?”
Smart kid. No one had said anything, but somehow Leo had picked up on the plans. “Yeah. Shea and I have someone we need to see.”
“Will Quinn stay?”
“I don’t know.” He hoped so, for Quinn’s sake and for Serena’s and Leo’s. “He will, if he can. And there’s someone coming to take over your training, someone I think you’re going to like.”
Leo’s mouth quivered. “But…I like you.”
His heart twisted in his chest. This shouldn’t hurt so damn much but he was already in deep with these two. “I like you, too. But your sister and I have something to do.”
Leo blinked, as if trying to hold back tears. “I’m not supposed to leave Sissy, not ever. And I could help.”
Gabriel kneeled down to look into Leo’s eyes. “I’m sure you could help. But you need to train, too. And we won’t be gone long.”
Leo just stared and Gabriel could tell the kid was about to lose it.
The tightness in his throat told Gabriel he was, too. He stood, not all that steady himself. He didn’t want to leave the kid behind. But it was the right thing to do. “Don’t worry about it now, bud. Come on. Let’s find something to eat.”
* * *
Another pot slipped from her hand, making a jarring clatter as Serena tried to put a meal together. That was the second pot she’d dropped. If she wasn’t careful, she’d break something. She’d nearly cut her finger off slicing the ham—
“Serena.”
Gasping, she dropped that pot one more time.
Sweet Mother Goddess, she hadn’t heard Quinn enter the kitchen. That was dangerous. The boy slipped through her defenses in more ways than one.
And that voice. Goddess bless her, his voice tugged at her very soul.
She caught herself just before she turned and threw herself at him, which would have been completely embarrassing for a woman of her age. She drew in a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart before she faced him.
Oh…Goddess. This was why she stayed locked in her house on a hill.
He stood in the doorway, sweaty, intense and, Goddess help her, completely naked.
And no longer a boy.
If she was honest with herself, Quinn hadn’t been a boy for six years. Still, he was young. And so damn mortal.
“Are you hungry?” She refused to back down from his stare. “I’ve got pancakes, eggs, bacon, ham, home fries.” Because she knew he loved all of them.
Jaw set, he nodded. “You know I am. I need a shower first, but after I eat, I’m leaving. Gabriel called Matt, so they won’t need me. I’m not staying.”
Her heart contracted in her chest until she was sure she was having a heart attack. “Where are you going?”
He looked at her with weary blue eyes, his beautiful face set in stern lines that looked so out of place there. Those lines were her fault.
“I’m tired of this game, Serena. Tired of waiting. You won.” He moved toward her and she struggled to keep her gaze from slipping lower than his chin as he got right in her face. “But here’s something to think about, babe. Until you decide to take another lover who isn’t me.”
She should have seen it coming. Should have known he was going to kiss her. Maybe she had. Maybe she didn’t care. She closed her eyes and shut off her brain.
Quinn wrapped wiry-strong arms around her shoulders, brought her body flush against his and took her mouth in one perfect motion. His lips, hot and firm, devoured and devastated. The heat of his naked body blasted through the thin cotton of her dress, and the musky scent of his sweat made her sex clench in response.
Quinn groaned deep in his throat, and his body surged against hers. His erection hardened against her stomach and his kiss became more powerful, more desperate.
His lips ate at hers with a hunger she echoed, and her mouth opened to allow his tongue in. His taste seeped into her blood-stream like a fast-acting drug, tantalizing her nerve endings and making her head spin.
She shouldn’t respond, for both their sakes. But she couldn’t help herself. This was her man, the man she’d always loved, would always love. Couldn’t live without. Couldn’t bear to lose him again.
Her arms rose to snake around his waist—and he shoved away from her.
Eyes wide, bare chest heaving, Quinn looked as shocked as she felt. She didn’t know how long they stood there, staring at each other. She couldn’t help but hope he wasn’t done. That he didn’t have the strength to walk away from her. Because she knew if he took her in his arms again, it would be the end of her resistance. She would give herself to him because she wouldn’t be able to stop, wouldn’t want to stop.
Then his eyes closed and he groaned, just a small sound at the back of his throat.
“Gods-be-damned, I love you, Serena. It’s in my genes, for fuck’s sake. But I can’t live like this. If you don’t want me, then tell me. I’ll find someone who does, someone who won’t turn me away.”
Without looking at her again, he walked out of the room.
Despair tore through her body with poisonous agony. Images of Quinn with faceless women bombarded her brain. She didn’t want to imagine him with anyone else, couldn’t bear to think of some other woman’s hands on his lean body or sinking into his shaggy blond hair.
Though Quinn had the soul of her mate, she also knew he was just Quinn. Niccolo had rarely smiled and his mood had scarcely wavered. Quinn’s smile appeared at the slightest provocation and his mood could change in a blink. His fierce loyalty to his family and friends was legendary, but Goddess forbid if you got on his bad side. He could be intractable.
Like now. He wanted all or nothing.
And either would tear her heart out of her chest.
* * *
They sat down to eat in the kitchen around eight. Tension hung in the air like smoke, and Gabriel had had just about as much as he could take.
The kid was too tired to talk so he just shoveled food. Shea looked shell-shocked and only managed a couple of mouthfuls before she started pushing food around her plate.
Quinn couldn’t take his eyes off Serena, and Serena didn’t look at anyone as she floated between the stove and the table, refilling bowls and picking at a few pieces of melon. She never could eat when she was worried. Stress showed in the furrows on her forehead and the ashen pallor beneath her skin.
Gabriel knew his mother. He knew she was worried about Quinn, worried about Shea. But it was Leo that had her tied in knots at the moment.
He’d caught the look of absolute desolation in her eyes when she’d first seen him. The same look Gabriel probably had the night Shea came to his door in Reading.
Leo looked so much like Nino. Her dead son. The brother Gabriel hadn’t been able to save.
Christ, they were lucky the house didn’t explode from the tension.
“So, Quinn,” Gabriel asked the first question that came to mind that didn’t deal with a touchy subject. “How’s the new club in Jersey?”
Quinn jerked then shook his head as if to clear it. “Good. We’re almost ready to open.”
“You gonna work there for a while?”
“Yeah, then I thought I’d head out to Vegas, see how the casino’s holding up.”
At the sink, Serena dropped the plates she’d been holding, pottery clattering on porcelain.
Quinn’s eyes narrowed as he continued. “After that, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll head overseas for a vacation. A few months away might do me some goo
d.”
Serena stiffened but continued to stack dishes in the sink.
Gabriel knew what Quinn was up to, knew he was pushing her. At any other time, he’d be okay with it. But not now. Not—
“That sounds great,” Shea said. “A vacation sounds great right about now.”
She said it in a teasing tone but the longing in her voice made Gabriel’s stomach twist. He wished he could take her and Leo away. Make it safe for them to go to Disney World or the Grand Canyon or hell, even the Jersey shore for a weekend.
Spell Bound (Darkly Enchanted) Page 21